Alabama-USC Series History

With the offseason in full swing and Bama set to play USC to open the season, I thought I'd make this thread. Originally, Alabama was supposed to play Penn State in this game - a team with whom the Tide has much more history. But (to quote Saban) "they bailed out on us," so let's take a look at the history between Alabama and USC, two of college football's most storied programs.

First meeting: September 24th, 1938. In the first game of the 1938 season, Alabama traveled to Los Angeles and handled the Trojans 19-7. The Tide went on to finish the year 7-1-1 and #13, while USC finished 9-2 and #7 after beating #3 Duke in the Rose Bowl.

Second meeting: January 1st, 1946. USC and Alabama met again in the 1946 Rose Bowl, and Alabama once again emerged victorious. Frank Thomas' squad smashed the #7 Trojans 34-14 to finish 1945 with a perfect 10-0 record and ranked #2. We should probably claim 1945 as a national title instead of 1941.

Third meeting: September 12th, 1970. In the first game of the 1970 season, #3 USC faced #16 Alabama at Legion Field. This was the first time a fully integrated team had played in Alabama, and Bama's embarrassing 21-42 loss is sometimes credited with speeding up the full integration of the Crimson Tide.

Fourth meeting: September 10th, 1971. 1971 featured another season opening matchup between the Tide and Trojans, this time in Los Angeles. #16 Alabama surprised #5 USC by unveiling the wishbone offense which would be a staple of Alabama football for the remainder of Bryant's tenure. The Tide prevailed 17-10.

Fifth meeting: October 8th, 1977. Alabama once again traveled to Los Angeles, nursing an early season upset loss to Nebraska. USC entered the game on a 15 game winning streak and #1 in the nation, but #7 Alabama scored a 21-20 upset in the most thrilling game in series history.

Sixth meeting: September 23rd, 1978. #7 USC traveled to Legion Field and took revenge on Alabama for the prior year's upset, beating the #1 Tide 14-24. Both these teams went on to finish the season with only one loss and co-national champions.

Seventh meeting: December 28th, 1985. #15 Alabama (8-2-1) faced USC (6-5) in the 1985 Aloha Bowl from Honolulu. The favored Tide easily dispatched the Trojans, 24-3.

Alabama holds the edge historically in most team accomplishments: 16 national championships to 11, .723 winning percentage to .673, 893 wins to 826, 64 bowl appearances to 52, 36 bowl victories to 34. The only major team category in which USC has done better is conference championships, where they have 38 compared to Alabama's 29, and this can be explained by the historical weakness of the conference now known as the PAC-12.

In terms of individual player accolades, USC outperforms Bama in most categories: 80 consensus All-Americans to 64, 7 Heisman winners to 2, and 499 NFL draft picks to 336.

As for the most important stat - head-to-head record - Alabama leads the all-time series with USC, 5 to 2. 2016 will be only the second time in series history that the teams have met outside of Birmingham or Los Angeles, and the first meeting in 31 years. It is the third time that the teams have met in a season opener.